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Saturday, 3 October 2015

Navratri is an important festival dedicated to the worship of the Hindu deity Durga. The word Navaratri means 'nine nights' in Sanskrit. During these nine nights , nine forms of Devi (Goddess) are worshiped. Devotees of Goddess Durga observe fast on this occasion of nine day long Durga Pooja celebrations twice every year - Vasant Navratri which comes in Chaitra month (March-April) and Sharad Navratri (September- October) with full faith and devotion.

This year the Sharad Navratri will begin from 13 th October 2015 which is just around the corner , so here I am with my first Navratri fasting food recipe - Raw Banana Cutlets or Kache Kele ki Tikki. These tikkis are crunchy , tasty and nutritious snacks . They serve as a filling fruit diet during fasting and also can be served as a variation to the usual cutlets , also suitable for Diabetes patients.

Nutritionally , the green unripe banana is a good source of fiber , vitamins and minerals, and contains a starch that may help control blood sugar , manage weight and lower blood cholesterol levels.

Wash the raw Bananas and trim both their ends. Place them in a container and steam them in a pressure cooker .

2. After cooling , peel them and mash them well with a spoon or fork.

3. Roast the Peanuts on a heated skillet , remove their skin by rubbing and grind them into coarse powder. Make sure you do not make a fine powder as the chunks give nice crunchy bite to the cutlets. Also make a paste of ginger , cumin seeds, green chili and coriander. Add all this to the mashed Bananas.

4. Add Salt , black Pepper powder and lemon juice. Mix all this very well and make into a dough.

5. Divide the dough into 9 equal parts and shape them either into round or oval tikkis.

6. Spread the Sesame seeds on a plate . Tap the tikkis on these Sesame seeds so that they coat well on both sides of the tikkis. On a heated non stick skillet sprinkle just 1 tsp of ghee and shallow fry the tikkis from both the sides until golden brown.

7. Serve hot with sweet curd or any other dip of your choice. I have served it with sweet peanut chutney.